PUPPIES BEHIND BARS

Art Direction: Kristen Beck

The brief for this project was to find a company/organization and design a mural wall that would go inside of their main headquarters. The main challenge being to design with an established company in mind and creating something that fits their aesthetic. Things would change a tad for my project. he company I found was Puppies Behind Bars. PBB gives inmates a second chance and veterans a new lease on life. This organization oversees inmates and gives thems dogs that they train to become certified therapy canines. After they have completed their training the dogs are given to veterans to help them with the traumas they have endured during their service.

The project differes from the brief mainly because my idea was to put this wall within the prisons that this organization operates with. A wall that would bring attention to the work that the inmates are putting in and something that shows the importance of what they do. I decided to do this with a lenticular wall; one side is a photo from the PBB’s very own archives. Using the yellow from their logo, I wanted to highlight the connection between the trainers and their canines. Below that, we can see the opposite side of the lenticular wall. I combed through all of PBB’s past newsletters from 1998-2020 and found stories and examples of how much these dogs have helped veterans who are a part of the program.

For the stories, I decided that a nice detail would be to have the drop caps be reminiscent of the Puppies Behind Bars logo. 

For the second half of this project, I chose to continue with Puppies Behind Bars. For this part, I was tasked with creating way-finding and signage for the company’s headquarters. 

I felt that the way-finding also needed to draw upon the organizatios logo, utilizing the dog silhouette as a guide around the building. Playing off of the company’s main colors helps to differentiate the signage classifications. The gray-colored signage leads visitors towards things like offices, the kitchen, etc. Whereas, the yellow-colored signage leads towards more ADA compliant areas such as restrooms and stairs. In areas where a dog graphic is not practicular, there are color-coded, vinyl-graphic paw to prints on the ground to aid in navigation.